THE Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) has opposed the 550 peso (US$12.20) airport terminal fee to be added to all air tickets at the point of sale beginning February 1.
Meant to ease airport congestion by phasing out the passenger terminal fee counters at airports, the implementation of the international passenger service charge (IPSC) was delayed several times due to the opposition from various quarters, including airlines and overseas Filipino workers.
In a position paper presented to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) last December, PTAA said “many small- and medium-sized travel agencies would have no choice but to close” due to increased costs of operation.
Explained PTAA: “On average, a medium-sized travel agency sells 500 airline tickets monthly. With the imposition of the (IPSC), this roughly translates to 275,000 pesos.
“The monthly obligation to remit the amount would require that a travel agency maintain a continuing state of liquidity, preventing some travel agencies from offering their usual packages to would-be travellers.”
While airlines will be reimbursed 3.5 per cent of all amounts collected from IPSC, PTAA complained that “travel agencies are simply left out and totally ignored”. It added: “This problem could have been openly addressed had MIAA made prior consultations with travel consultants.”
Some airlines do not agree to the extra work involved and believe that passengers seeking refunds for terminal fees will not ease airport congestion.
TTG Asia e-Daily understands that in direct response via a letter dated January 9 to PTTA, MIAA general manager Jose Angel Honrado said: “Proceeds collected will be remitted to MIAA by the airlines, not their ticketing or travel consultants. As such, the integration programme will not disturb the existing arrangements between you and the airlines.”
On the refunding process for cancelled airline tickets sold by travel consultants, he said: “Remittance of terminal fee collections by the airlines to MIAA is not based on sales or airline tickets sold but on flown passengers. Thus, this should not be a concern of travel consultants/agencies”.
He added MIAA conducted three consultations with various associations of travel consultants/agencies, including PTAA.
However, Josefina Baena, then PTAA’s vice president outbound, told TTG Asia e-Daily that MIAA’s meetings “weren’t consultative but only informing us what to do. They’re not asking for our opinion”.
